New Vernon Investment Management LLC Has $1.90 Million Stock Position in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

New Vernon Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX - Free Report) by 16.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,000 shares of the asset manager's stock after selling 2,201 shares during the period. Blackstone accounts for approximately 1.1% of New Vernon Investment Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. New Vernon Investment Management LLC's holdings in Blackstone were worth $1,897,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bangor Savings Bank raised its holdings in Blackstone by 187.5% during the 4th quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 161 shares of the asset manager's stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. Hager Investment Management Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Centricity Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Blackstone in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.00% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In related news, Director Ruth Porat bought 301 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, for a total transaction of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Blackstone stock traded down $2.90 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $130.64. The company had a trading volume of 1,917,680 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,756,436. The firm has a market cap of $95.29 billion, a PE ratio of 35.99, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 1.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.71. Blackstone Inc. has a one year low of $115.66 and a one year high of $200.96. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $140.29 and a 200 day moving average of $163.84.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The asset manager reported $1.09 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.22 by ($0.13). Blackstone had a return on equity of 19.58% and a net margin of 20.99%. The business had revenue of $2.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Blackstone Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Monday, April 28th will be paid a $0.93 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 28th. This represents a $3.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.85%. Blackstone's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 112.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BX. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $165.00 price objective on shares of Blackstone in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $233.00 to $147.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $190.00 to $137.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Blackstone from $160.00 to $139.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $149.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Blackstone has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $154.82.

About Blackstone

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.